Thomas C. Chapman Online Memorial: 2011

11/22/46 - 9/24/11

November 22, 1946 - September 24, 2011

Thomas C. Chapman lost his battle with pancreatic cancer just under two months shy of his 65th birthday.

Tom was born in Michigan and grew up in a house in Monroe, where his closest neighbor lived a mile away. His ambition led him to Michigan State University where he learned all about screenwriting and the entertainment industry and met many friends he kept for his whole life. Shortly after college, Tom did all sorts of things, including working as a traveling mime and working in Los Angeles, Florida, and Utah. Many cross-country trips were had. Eventually, the country boy ended up in Los Angeles for good.

In Los Angeles, Tom made his dreams come true, working as a screenwriter and producer for both feature films and television over the decades. Truth be told, as many of you know from his occasional standup bouts, his true love was comedy. More than anything, he enjoyed making others laugh.

In March 2011, Tom received the unfortunate news that he had stage three pancreatic cancer. Over the ensuing six months, he fought hard against the disease and received chemotherapy treatment. He named his tumor Gaddhafi, and we all followed the happenings in Libya very closely. During that time, he was aided greatly by his friends. In particular, Karen and David O'Malley, Jim and Rebecca Conway, and Marc and Eva McCulloch went beyond what could ever be expected from friends or family.

In the weeks before his passing, Tom's condition worsened unexpectedly. In that short time, Tom came to peace with his fate. He wanted all to know that he was ready and he was not afraid - but that he will miss all of those he loves. He was profuse in his thankfulness and his heart was full of love.

Tom is survived by many of us who love him, including his family (his daughter Kelly, his former wife Debra and her husband Charles and their son Ben, his stepchildren Terry and Sadie, his sister Judy and her family, his brother Roy and his family) and wonderful friends that were also his family (from Monroe to Michigan State to Sunn Classic to the Cantina Crew and everyone in between).

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Memorial Open House

Come join me in celebrating my Dad's wonderful life. As you may know, my Dad's wish was to be cremated, so in lieu of a formal funeral we will be holding this open house with finger foods, drinks, and lots of pictures and memories to go around. Stop by at any time. Please feel free to contact me with any questions and hopefully we will be seeing many of you soon!

Please send this invitation to anyone you think would be interested in attending!

http://new.evite.com/?utm_source=gmail&utm_medium=email&utm_content=text&utm_campaign=host_conf&eml=h_conf#view_invite:eid=0084AAQZXGL24EOSQEPA7D7KAEGJTQ

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Thank you and New posts

Thank you all so much for your emails and sweet words. I have thoroughly enjoyed learning more about my Dad through all of your eyes. I had no idea that he hitchhiked to New York! And I have loved how many of his friends from childhood and high school have been in touch - it is astounding to see how far back roots can go.

Please check out the shared stories page (here) for new posts! And thank you all again!

Sunday, October 2, 2011

New "Guest Book" Mechanism

Hello all,

It seems the previous idea of posting comments to the below blog post is not the best way to create a guest book (I apologize for not being able to find a more user-friendly format!). As many have done already, please email Kelly at KellyCChapman@gmail.com if you would like to have a story, thought, or just your name added to a blog page that will now serve as the Guest Book located here or go to http://tomchapmanmemorial.blogspot.com/p/shared-thoughts-stories.html.

Thank you all for your contributions so far - it is so wonderful to hear your warm thoughts and stories about my Dad.

Kelly

Monday, September 26, 2011

Guest Book

Please leave your name in a comment on this post in order to sign the online guestbook

If you have any stories, anecdotes, or pictures that you cannot share in the comment section, we would love for you to send them to us at KellyCChapman@gmail.com.